Category Archives: Uncategorized

Post navigation

Happy New Year everyone! Blessings to you and yours for 2018!

As I type I can hear the winds howl and the snow plow scrape by outside during the Bombogenesis snow storm. I hope everyone stays warm and safe until this passes. The extremely cold temperatures this season are creating some of the wildest window crystals photos I’ve ever seen posted by friends across the Facebook and Instagram universe. Keep them coming! To me, the beauty of nature is an essential inspiration. Even with my cell phone from INSIDE a warm house as in the photos above.

My friends at Digital Silver Imaging are once again hosting a series of my Lightroom workshops starting in February, and we’ll be continuing with one a month until spring. I know many of you have had questions about upgrading to the new Lightroom CCvs Lightroom CC Classic and Adobe has definitely made things confusing!! I will discuss this in the classes, but my main advice is read up on the changes before you switch. There are many sources available on line or contact me with questions.

I’m most excited about a brand new Lightroom Workshop called Shoot, Import and Develop! where we will spend a few hours out photographing portraits and landscapes, and then come back to import them using best practices for metadata, copyright and keywords and then move right into processing your photos. We will cover portrait photography in the field as well as landscape images and then cover editing and retouching techniques back in the classroom. So whichever type of photography you would like to explore, this class will help.

Here are the current workshops scheduled. To sign up and to see details for each class click the links below each listing.

Library Module Intensive – Saturday March 10, 2018, 12-5pm

Shoot, Import, and Develop! – Saturday April 14, 2018, 9:30am – 4pm

Feel free to contact me with any questions about the classes.

Private Tutorials

Are you not able to find your photos? Are you getting those pesky question marks on your folders? Do you need help developing your images to their full potential? Contact me about a private session and will come to your home to help you sort out any of your Lightroom issues. Travel within 25 miles included; 2 hour minimum, $85 per hour.

Cape Cod Weekend PhotoJourneys Workshop

Sept 22th-24th, 2017 $395

Once again, we are journeying to Cape Cod!! September on the Cape is considered by some to be the most lovely, with dramatic light and less crowds.

Writers, painters, and photographers have long enjoyed the benefits of a Cape Cod creative retreat. This magnificent haven boasts incredible sunrises and sunsets, still wild long sandy beaches, ponds and tall grasses, salt marshes, lighthouses, dramatic sand dunes, quaint shops, a even a windmill.

During the workshop, Kathy will work with each participant to address opportunities to capture unique images and enhance their photographic knowledge and skill. The goal of the workshop is learning in a supportive and fun environment with other photo enthusiasts.

There will be plenty of in the field shooting, as well as post capture editing time.

During the class session as well as having time to work on your images, Kathy will give feedback on your work, in terms of style, content and composition, so you can work on your own personal shooting style. In the field, Kathy assigns fun and directed exercises to challenge your photo eye!

Kathy is an Adobe certified Lightroom expert and will be sharing tips on non-destructive post-processing to quickly and easiy enhance your images. If you don’t own Lightroom, you can download the free 30 day trial from Adobe, but it’s not required. However you feel comfortable editing is fine.

Eastham Windmill and the moon

We will discuss camera settings and functions that can be used to increase your creativity, exposure, depth of field, rules of composition and other digital tips. The class size is small so the personal attention time is high. We want you to come home with amazing photos and a better understanding of how you achieved them!

Lightroom is the essential software tool for any serious photographer. Come and learn the fundamentals of this incredibly powerful tool that many professionals have come to rely on.

Adobe Certified Expert, Kathy Tarantola, will help guide you through the basics. This workshop will thoroughly cover the Library and Develop modules where you manage, keyword, edit and enhance your images. With hands-on practice, learn how to quickly and easily import, organize, edit, rate, and enhance your images, and how to work through large shoots efficiently with synchronized settings and presets. We will discuss how Photoshop will fit into your workflow, and learn how to move between Lightroom and Photoshop easily.

Kathy will take several images through the entire Develop workflow, reviewing tools along the way. Topics emphasized will be based on student needs. You will have time to practice with your own images, ask questions, and get feedback on your work.

No prior experience with Lightroom is necessary; however a working knowledge of computers is necessary for you to get the most from this workshop. A laptop computer loaded with version 5 or 6 of Lightroom is required. You can download a trial version at Adobe.com.

Lightroom 101 and Beyond!! October 8, 2016

For more information and to sign up through Digital Silver Imaging: CLICK HERE

Lightroom is the essential software tool for any serious photographer. Come and learn the fundamentals of this incredibly powerful tool that many professionals have come to rely on.

Adobe certified expert, Kathy Tarantola will help guide you through the basics. This workshop will thoroughly cover the Library and Develop modules where you manage, keyword, edit and enhance your images. With hands-on practice, learn how to quickly and easily import, organize, edit, rate, and enhance your images, and how to work through large shoots efficiently with synchronized settings and presets. We will discuss how Photoshop will still fit in your workflow, and learn how to move between Lightroom and Photoshop easily.

Kathy will take several images through the entire Develop workflow, reviewing tools along the way. Topics emphasized will be based on student needs. You will have time to practice with your own images, ask questions, and get feedback on your work.

No prior experience with Lightroom is necessary; however a working knowledge of computers is necessary for you to get the most from this workshop. A laptop computer loaded with version 5 or 6 of Lightroom is required. You can download a trial version at Adobe.com.

You will gain a fresh outlook on how to manage your workflow and process your digital images faster and with more precise control, as well as learning to quickly increase your creativity and output stunning images.

For more information and to sign up through Digital Silver Imaging: CLICK HERE

We had an incredible time photographing at the Steampunk Festival in Waltham back in May! The fabulous characters were all delighted to have us take their portraits and as a group we discussed adding fill flash or using reflectors to open shadows.

Along with demonstrations, we teamed up to allow each person to have a chance to shoot or assist. There were so many characters dressed to the nines to photograph, it was hard to choose who to ask to pose.

We were sure to ask permission and send copies of the images to the subjects, so they were delighted to pose.

Tuesday evenings- May 10th, May 17th and May 24th

6:30-9pm

Digital Silver Imaging
9 Brighton St. Belmont MA
617 489-0035

Use this link to sign up:

Now that you have fabulous images, how do you share them with the world? Luckily, Lightroom gives you incredibly customized ways to output your images working in the various modules like Book, Slideshow, Print and Web.

There are so many options, that these modules can be confusing. But once you begin to work with them, you will be delighted with the variations for creating your own custom output, whether it be a hardcover tabletop book, slideshow or gorgeous color corrected prints.

Class One – Exporting and Slideshow Module

Tuesday night May 10th 6:30-9 pm

You will come away from this first class of the Output Series understanding all of these options as well as learning how to watermark your images to put on the web, save export templates for these various output usages so that with the touch of a button you can export to the proper size and specs, and how to manage the workflow of exported images.

In addition we will spend time exploring the slideshow module to learn how to best create slideshows that are visually pleasing, using text overlays, background images, and creating and saving multiple slideshow templates.

Class Two – Print and Web Module

Tuesday night May 17th 6:30-9 pm

You can customize the Lightroom default print templates for various paper sizes, save them, and print directly from Lightroom utilizing custom paper profiles for the best reproduction on a variety of paper surfaces.

We will cover soft proofing in the Develop Module to get your images ready for the best color reproduction possible.

Even if you don’t have a printer at home, we will discuss how to properly export your images for file delivery to custom labs like Digital Silver Imaging, with all of the settings embedded in the file.

You will also be choosing 3 of your images to have printed at DSI. We will work on color correcting and soft proofing them using the correct paper profiles to ensure a stunning print.

Your prints will be ready by the final class for you to take home.

Class Three – Book Module

Tuesday night May 24th 6:30-9 pm

In this class we will work to create beautiful layouts for making a book from your photographs. Creating a book can be as simple as letting auto layout do the work for you, or by using the various preset page layouts and text options, with minimal effort, you can tailor your book to suit your vision.

By the end of the evening, you should have the beginnings of a book design that you can save as a template to create a very fine book. Lightroom has partnered with Blurb custom publishing for simple ordering, or you can export your layout to a PDF or jpegs.

Contact the team at DSI to sign up with the link at the top of the page

Portrait workshop at the Watch City Steampunk Festival

May 13th, 2017 10-3

One Day MIT Stata Center Photography Workshop

Saturday April 16th, 2016 9am-1pm $75

Designed by renowned architect Frank O. Gehry, the Stata Center is meant to carry on Building 20’s innovative and serendipitous spirit, and to foster interaction and collaboration across many disciplines.

Join us as we set out to capture this wonderfully quirky building.

When the building opened in 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robert Campbell wrote in the Boston Globe that the building is “a work of architecture that embodies serious thinking about how people live and work, and at the same time shouts the joy of invention.”

Our joy will be creating stunning photographs, learning and having fun.

The first part of the workshop we will discuss architectural photography and tips, and although this building defies any notion of “standard” many of the same rules apply. We will discuss aperture, shutter speed, depth of field and other technical subjects to advance your understanding of your camera, but also cover composition and how to use the colors, shapes and light to pull your viewer into your images.

The class will be limited to 9 students keeping the instructor to student ratio low so make sure you get on board early. Bring your questions! As in all classes topics may include: aperture, shutter speed, proper exposure, exposure compensation, focus, metering, point of view, composition, light.

One Day Steampunk Festival PhotoJourney Workshop

New Special Pricing for all One Day Workshops – $75

Four hours of instruction and fun on location!

The last workshop sold out, so book soon.

Saturday, May 7th, 2016 11-3 $75

Rain date Sunday May 8th

Pink Lady A Steampunk style display at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation

Join instructor Kathy on this fun photo workshop at the exciting and visually stunning Steampunk Festival in Waltham, MA. If there is enough interest we will add another instructor.

We are joining hundreds of costumed Steampunk aficionados in Waltham, MA for a day of portrait photography on Saturday, May 7th. You will learn how to work with natural light, reflectors and flash to make stunning portraits. The wild ensembles that the Steampunk folks put together are a delight to the eye and we will work on capturing the essence of their characters. Learn to choose locations and backgrounds to create a natural surrounding that enhances your subject.We will cover posing and expression and how to connect with your subject.

The class will be limited to 9 students per instructor, keeping the instructor to student ratio low so make sure you get on board early.